Ryan's eyes snapped open before dawn, his mind already racing with plans for the day ahead. The previous day's success had exposed a critical flaw in his strategy – he could run out of stock at any time, and quickly. The people who bought from him would likely spread the word, and the more adventurous might return for more potions, of which he had none left.
As he splashed cold water on his face, Ryan caught his reflection in the cracked mirror. His eyes, two deep blue orbs, seemed more focused than ever. With his current funds, he could probably purchase enough ingredients for about two to three hundred potions, which should cost between one gold and five hundred silvers to two gold.
It was a significant chunk of his money, but the wiser choice. People probably wouldn't be buying as many skill tabs the longer his sale went on. Ryan kept a brisk pace as he left The Messy Inn, eager to get the ingredients on hand and start brewing.
As he walked, Ryan reflected on his solitary nature. It wasn't something he was proud of, but he preferred to keep to himself. The market was filled with people looking to exploit others for personal gain, so Ryan decided it was better to keep his distance from such characters. He couldn't imagine fraternizing with people who were in it just for the rewards.
Unfortunately, that also meant he was bereft of people to actually talk to about his plans. But perhaps that was for the best – most would immediately "borrow" the idea to improve their own sales, and the strategy would become watered down over time. It was something he'd eventually have to prepare for, as no marketing strategy really thrived in the market for long before it became redundant.
Ryan finally arrived at the alchemist market, making his way straight to the elderly woman's shop. She was still setting up as he approached.
"Good morning, ma'am. Glad to see you're in good health," Ryan greeted.
The woman barely looked up. "Get to the point, boy. As you can see, I don't have time for all your youthful shenanigans."
Ryan nodded, getting straight to business. "I'd like to purchase a bag each of red clover, yarrow, and comfrey. Oh, and if you can add in a pouch of mint, that'd be nice." He paused, remembering the basic ingredients he'd gotten from Jenora. "Also, a bag of ground-up riziak and kleklin, if you have them."
The herbalist's eyes lit up. "Well, boy, you might just be good luck for the rest of the day. And of course I have everything you need. I'm not like those baby merchants just dabbling in one or two things... no offense, of course."
Ryan was a little offended, but he brushed it off. "No problem. It is what it is."
With their brief exchange over, the elderly herbalist disappeared into her stall and started tossing out bags. Five in total, with a small pouch likely containing the mint. It looked very heavy, but Ryan figured he'd find a cart pusher to handle it.
"So, how much for the total order?" Ryan asked.
"A tidy sum of one gold, six hundred and fifty-five silvers," the herbalist replied. "But I'll knock the fifty-five silvers off, so just the one gold and six hundred silvers, dear."
Ryan wasn't an irrational person, but having dealt with more customers in the last day than ever before, he'd picked up on a few things when it came to haggling. Taking a page from the dwarf customer of the previous day, he went as low as possible.
"I'll pay one gold and two hundred silvers," Ryan offered.
The herbalist snorted. "One gold and four hundred-fifty silvers."
"One gold and three hundred silvers," Ryan responded with a slight smile.
"One gold and four hundred silvers," the elderly herbalist said, wiggling a crooked finger at him. "Take it or get out. I don't have all day."
"Deal," Ryan agreed, relieved to have haggled the price down somewhat.
After exchanging coins, Ryan left his order to find a cart pusher, which was relatively easy as they dominated the market, always looking for merchants to help. It cost him fifty silvers to have the items moved to his shop, bringing his total expenditure to one gold and four hundred and fifty silvers on potion ingredients.
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Back at his stall, Ryan arranged his new ingredients and sat down to consider his options. He could get more skill tabs or diversify, as the herbalist had suggested. Gerhalt the blacksmith was one option, but getting artifacts was out of the question as they were absurdly expensive. The cheapest would probably be three gold at cost price, but the potential profit could be well worth it. However, a shop with only one artifact would be a joke.
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Another option was stat boosters, but he currently wanted to do more than just potions, so that was out. In the end, the only thing he could really add to his portfolio was the skill tab, and nothing more at this point.
More pressing was the fact that he needed to move away from The Messy Inn and get his own place to brew potions overnight. A two-bedroom house, even those being leased these days, went for about two to three gold per month, and he didn't even have a quarter of that on him. But at this point, he could technically get one or two artifacts or even whatever someone like Gerhalt had available.
With that settled, Ryan locked up shop and decided to visit the blacksmith.
The Iron Bender was easy to spot, with its bold sign visible from a distance. As Ryan approached the door, the oppressive heat hit him like a wall. He hadn't even taken a step inside when the first drop of sweat rolled down his forehead. Bracing himself, he stepped into what he could only compare to hell on earth.
The sounds of hammer striking metal echoed from somewhere at the back. Making his way to the forge itself, Ryan felt like his skin was on fire, even though the flames were all the other way. The man striking the metal was broad-shouldered and sweating profusely, but he wasn't Gerhalt. Ryan noticed another person in the farthest corner of the room, shouting instructions that were drowned out by the repeated metal-on-metal action.
Ryan finally caught Gerhalt's eye, and the master blacksmith pointed outside. Without needing further prompting, Ryan made his way out front, where he was shortly joined by Gerhalt.
"Good day, Mr..." Gerhalt said, giving way for Ryan to introduce himself.
"Ryan. Ryan Lionheart. Good morning, Mr. Gerhalt. I'm here concerning your proposition."
"Ah, welcome, Mr. Lionheart. Well, this is something we should discuss privately, no?" Without waiting for an answer, Gerhalt started moving to the next shop.
The moment Ryan stepped into the adjacent store, he couldn't help but let out an audible gasp, much to Gerhalt's delight. The shop was filled with weapons of all kinds – maces, axes, swords – with the occasional glass case holding what seemed to be artifacts. There wasn't much space to move around. All in all, this shop alone was worth at least a hundred thousand gold coins, if not more. At the counter stood a youthful attendant who greeted Mr. Gerhalt.
"Well, Mr. Lionheart, I'm glad you like what you see," Gerhalt said. "Please follow me to the back room so we can discuss my proposition."
Leading the way to the door behind the counter, Gerhalt opened it to reveal what looked like an office. He took a seat behind the desk and motioned for Ryan to sit in one of the two unoccupied chairs.
"Mr. Lionheart, I won't waste your time as we are both businessmen, and time is money. So, I'll get straight to it," Gerhalt began. "I am willing to offer you some of my products to sell. The deal is, I will sell the item to you at a fixed price, and you are allowed to add whatever you want on top of the fixed price and sell to your customers for a profit of your own. However, after personally seeing your stall, I know you don't have space for weapons, so I will be offering you artifacts instead."
Ryan leaned forward, intrigued. "Let me get this straight. You'll hand over artifacts to me to sell at my store at any price I want, provided I pay back the cost price of the artifact?"
"Yes, Mr. Lionheart. You catch on faster than most," Gerhalt praised.
"What's the catch?" Ryan asked, suspicious. "It's way too good of an offer to be true."
Gerhalt chuckled. "You're a sharp one, aren't you, Mr. Lionheart? Well, for each day after you receive my items, you pay five hundred silvers until you sell off everything. You can return the items at any point in time."
"Five hundred silvers?!" Ryan exclaimed, clearly flustered. "Where am I supposed to get that? Can we do two hundred silvers?"
"Mr. Lionheart, five hundred was me being lenient with you, as I've seen that you're a, pardon me, small-scale merchant. You can take your time to think about it, although I can't guarantee that the offer will still stand when you return."
Ryan's mind was racing. On one hand, it was a very good opportunity to break out. On the other, he didn't have much knowledge of the demand rate for artifacts or their pricing. The only silver lining was that he currently had enough money to buy one or two artifacts.
"I hope you can understand why I'd be reluctant to begin this partnership, as I don't have experience dealing with artifacts," Ryan said carefully. "However, I would be willing to purchase one or two from you to trial. So, how much do your cheapest artifacts cost?"
Gerhalt nodded, understanding. "Of course, not everyone can take a risk. Our cheapest artifacts are our teleportation stones. They go for two gold five hundred silvers a piece, but I'm willing to give you two at two gold one hundred silvers each in good faith. So, what do you say, Mr. Lionheart?"
Ryan considered for a moment. "I appreciate the incentive. I'll take two teleportation stones, and I'll be paying for them now."
"Very well," Gerhalt said, rising and offering his hand. "Meet with Vincent at the counter and tell him to sell them to you at two gold one hundred silvers each. I look forward to doing business with you, Mr. Lionheart."
"So do I, Mr. Gerhalt," Ryan replied, clasping the blacksmith's hand.
The process of getting the teleportation stones was simple – coins exchanged hands, and so did the stones. As Ryan exited the shop, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. The opportunity was too big to pass up, but sometimes the risk far outweighed the rewards. This was one of those times when he'd have to figure out if the risk was worth it.
Back at his stall, Ryan carefully placed the teleportation stones in a secure spot. He then turned his attention to brewing potions, determined to make the most of his new ingredients. As he worked, his mind kept drifting back to Gerhalt's offer. The potential for profit was enormous, but so was the risk. If he couldn't sell the artifacts quickly enough, the daily fee would eat into his earnings and potentially put him into more debt.
Well he'd see how long it'd take him to sell the teleportation stones he just bought before he'd make any decision. For the mean time it was best that he'd focus his energy into mass producing minor health potions.
The potions were ready within two hours and after testing its effectiveness with a small cut on his arm, he began bottling them up which took up almost an hour and a half.
All in all it amounted to three hundred and twenty bottles of minor health potions. Which was a pretty good haul. All he had to do was structure a package deal solely on potions.